His Strength And His Princess
by XXSamuraiPrincess26XX
Summary: How he was able to function for as long as he did before falling, the Princess had no idea, but what mattered is that she treat him as quickly as possible. Very slight mention of abuse


**Hello all my dearest friends and readers! I have had this idea swimming around for quite a while now, so I hope you enjoy it!**

 **Disclaimer: I own nothing related to Twilight Princess…**

His Strength And His Princess

It had been a tough week for Link and Princess Zelda; they had been traveling by foot through the desert for two days and once they finally reached Hyrule Castle, they were no doubt exhausted.

During the walk through the desert, the Princess had no concern for her own well-being as it was all for the Hero, especially since it had been just one hour after he defeated the warlock and they were already traveling back to the castle.

It quickly became clear to Zelda that Link was in a lot of pain. He often took breaks to either catch his breath or wait for any type of pain to pass. Zelda had asked him several times to allow her to check wherever he was hurting, but Link had told her that he was fine and didn't need help.

That was until they reached the front doors of Hyrule Castle, where he collapsed into her arms.

Once the Princess got him into a guest room she ordered the royal healer to bring her blankets, water, bandages, everything she needed to help the Hero. After she got everything she needed, the healer insisted on helping her, but Zelda said that she could help the Hero herself (as she had to heal some injuries of her own during her imprisonment.)

As soon as the healer left, Zelda took a moment to look at her Hero. His piercing blue eyes were closed, his breathing was shallow, and his face was stained with blood and sweat.

Despite his collapsed and weakened state, Link was still aware enough to understand what was going on around him. He could still feel her touch and hear what she was trying to tell him.

With Zelda's help, they were able to remove his sword, shield, and other equipment, eventually allowing the Princess to see the full extent of his injuries, and what she saw would forever plague her mind.

The Hero had several different sized sword slices on his torso, arms, and legs (luckily they missed any vital arteries). Zelda also notices that he had a gash on his head and a few dislocated bones.

How he was able to function for as long as he did before falling, the Princess had no idea, but what mattered is that she treat him as quickly as possible.

After dipping a white cloth into a bowl of lukewarm water, she began to gently clean the blood off his wounds. As she is doing so, she could only imagine the pain he was and how these injuries came to be.

The fact that he was roughly knocked off his horse several times and landed hard on the ground along with the brutal one-on-one fight with a warlock twice his size no doubt put him in his current condition. Due to being trapped being a golden barrier, Zelda could do nothing except watch Link use every ounce of his strength and courage to make sure said warlock would be the one to breathe a final breath.

A sudden tight grip on one of her blood-stained hands brought Zelda out of her reverie.

She quickly noticed that Link had taken her hand and brought it to his bleeding chest.

"Princess, please start here…" he whispered painfully.

He had placed her hand on a gash that looked like it was obtained by a very thin sword.

"As you wish…" Zelda responded while taking her hand out of his grip.

After rinsing the cloth, she started to tend to the gash, completely unaware that this particular wound was given by the Princess herself.

It had been when she was tortured and manipulated into becoming a puppet in order to kill him in cold blood. She had no idea how much she was hurting him or how closes she had been to actually killing him.

As Zelda began to close up the wound (and apologizing several times while doing so), Link couldn't help but remember that dreadful moment in the throne room.

The first thing that caught his eye was not the warlock staring down at him, but rather the Princess trapped in the large Triforce statue in a total comatose state. She showed absolutely no awareness to the world around her; any signs of life were gone.

She was just an empty shell; until the warlock decided to put her to use.

He was forced to fight the Princess (to this moment it still haunted him) not knowing if he was hurting her every time she was attacked.

Finally, all wounds were cleaned, treated, and after several gauze wraps, the Hero finally allowed himself to relax and fall asleep.

. . .

For Zelda, the night seemed to drag on forever. Despite being exhausted herself, the Princess knew that she had to make sure nothing would happen to her Hero while he slept. Throughout the night, she had adjusted the blankets, changed the bandages when needed, and gave him water, everything she could do to keep him comfortable. But, she was soon forced to succumb to exhaustion when she came to terms that she needed just as much rest as the Hero.

With the Hero looking like he was in a deep enough sleep, Zelda turns away from the bed but just as she was about to get up from the chair she had been sitting on, she heard the sound of a suffocation person.

Turning around, she noticed the Hero was once again starting to sweat and his breathing was much more shallow than before. Without hesitation, she quickly started wiping his face and gently giving him more water. Once he calmed down again, the Princess finally decided to join him.

Pulling back the curtains, the Princess slowly crawls into an empty spot beside him and after adjusting herself into an upright sitting position, gently lifts his head and places it in her lap. As she began to stroke his hair, she couldn't help but allow a few tears of her own to fall.

She didn't like to see her Hero like this. He was in pure mental and physical pain, and the only thing she could do was treat everything as best as she could.

. . .

The feeling of his hair being stroked caused Link to awaken, but his piercing blue eyes remained closed.

He just couldn't believe that the Princess was taking care and watching over him when it was supposed to be the other way around; he was supposed to be taking care and watching over her.

This made him feel quite foolish and selfish, but at the same time grateful.

As Zelda continued to stroke the dirty blonde locks, he couldn't help but let out a sigh.

 _Her touch was so soft…_

 _Her heart was so pure…_

 _Her beauty was beyond compare…_

He couldn't help but let out another sigh.

. . .

Once the Princess noticed that Link had gotten comfortable on her lap, she couldn't help but feel some sense of happiness and relief. She never believed that she would be caring for the one who saved her and her kingdom.

Eventually, the Hero fell asleep again, giving Zelda a different view of him. She noted that the Hero looked much younger when he was in a calm sleep and with his head in her lap, made him look even younger.

It also made her feel like a mother…a mother with the most powerful child in the world.

 **I hope you enjoyed it!**

 **Please rate and review!**


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